Book Review: The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

GREETINGS. My name is Don Tillman. I am forty-one years old. I have been married to Rosie Jarman, world’s most perfect woman, for ten months and ten days.

Marriage added significant complexity to my life. When we relocated to New York City, Rosie brought three maximum-size suitcases. We abandoned the Standardised Meal System and agreed that sex should not be scheduled in advance.

Then Rosie told me we had ‘something to celebrate’, and I was faced with a challenge even greater than finding a partner.

I have attempted to follow traditional protocols and have sourced advice from all six of my friends, plus a therapist and the internet.

The result has been a web of deceit. I am now in danger of prosecution, deportation and professional disgrace.

And of losing Rosie forever.

When I first read The Rosie Project, I was a little underwhelmed if I’m honest. The cover promised me “laugh out loud funny” and although I enjoyed it, the bits that were supposed to have been funny actually were actually a bit awkward. Certainly no actual lolling occured. However, I was promised by many that the follow up novel, The Rosie Effect, was even better than it’s prequel ( like films, something that rarely happens). Having a spare space in my Amazon 3 for £10 book deal, I thought I’d give it a shot and delve back into the lives of Don and Rosie Tillman.

I must say, the second book was better than the first. I think you get more used to Don’s sweet and sometimes chaotic aspergic tendancies and there’s a focus on a lot of other characters. However, I still couldn’t shake the strained feeling that the plot brought and the tempo stayed the same throughout.

There were some parts which were arguably quite enjoyable, but it didn’t have the gripping storyline that kept me turning page after page without being able to put it down. It was sad and somewhat unfair that Don and Rosie’s relationship was portrayed so negatively  throughout the story and the reader craves for Don to put his life back on track and sort out the jumbled mess he seems to create around himself.

The portrayal of Aspergers Syndrome is clever in a way that it’s thought provoking, truthful and displays both the positives and negatives of it from a personal perspective, although I wish it had also focused more on the fact that Rosie also needed to adapt rather than Don always being the one to change the way he was acting.

The story followed on succinctly from The Rosie Project and had a more vibrant and interesting plot with the introduction and involvement of more characters, so it is worth a read if you enjoyed the first book. However, I think if I were to view both stories as a pair, I found them quite frustrating and repetitive, hence giving The Rosie Effect a reasonably low score.

Rating: 6/10

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